We recently connected with Christina Hoffmeier and have shared our conversation below.

Christina, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s the best or worst investment you’ve made (either in terms of time or money)? (Note, these responses are only intended as entertainment and shouldn’t be construed as investment advice)

Coming from a lifelong investment family, I have personally made both high profiting investments and others that have served as a real life lesson along the way. That is just how investment goes. It’s a game of luck more than skill sometimes often reserved for those who are most willing to take a chance in order to maybe succeed at something rarely even attempted by others. Whether you are doing it for the bragging rights or the war stories, investing isn’t for the faint of heart.

My best investment however by far has been forming my team. I had come to a point in my career years ago where I couldn’t possibly work any harder, there were no more hours to give as daylight ran out far too soon and my energy was well gone before I even started the day. I was stressed out, burned out and not overall happy with myself or the level of service I was showing to my clients. Now I am not a person that delegates easily, but when I finally realized that delegating responsibilities not only benefited me but also my clients and generated additional income for my business, all the pieces started to fall into place. I started to invest into systems, strategies and talented professionals who were eager to work and learn from my past experiences. As with any investment, the monetary needed to put these measures in place stung a bit. However, overtime I have increased my teams revenue by over 400% plus I have allowed myself to really focus on what is important to my clients and completing tasks within my business that bring me true joy and drive.

Christina, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am the owner and operator of a multi layer real restate business that offers tailor fit investment strategies to real estate investors in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania market. We originally opened in 2008 serving as a single Realtor who assisted investors in finding homes that had investment return protentional. Since then, we have grown to a team of 34 members who handle an array of aspects of real estate including: retail sales, investment sales, local, absentee and international buyers, portfolio management, renovation, maintenance, lease placement and tenant management. Our clients are as local as our home town and as far away as across the globe. We offer a full hands on approach for passive investors as we are able to oversee and control all aspects of the real estate transaction start to finish.

Our team is comprised of Licensed Realtors, Administrative Staff, Marketing Professionals, Licensed Loan Originators. Contractors, Handymen & women, cleaning & staging professionals & photographers as well as Leasing and showing assistants. In addition we partner with amazing companies to offer a one stop approach for investor including Title, Attorney, Home Inspectors, Insurance and Warranty professionals.

We offer a predictable approach to real estate investing and treat every portfolio as if it was our own. Owning my own real estate portfolio myself, I know how important it is to have the right team to run and operate your investment along the way.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I have built my reputation through transparency and honesty. When working with investors, agents will usually guard the name and information of their clients very closely. But in reality, it is more beneficial to organize the clients as peers so that everyone can learn and grow from one another. My clients all know each other. We have meetings, trainings and masterminds together. We bounce ideas off of one another, share triumphs and failures. Our team encourages our clients top openly speak in front of one another with constructive criticism and offer suggestions on change that would benefit not just them but all of our clients. We may decisions on purchases, marketing, rent rates and resale prices as a group. We select colors, finishes and price points together. I am not in a position above or below my clients, I become their equal, their partner, I place myself in a position where if we win, we win together and if we fail we fall together.

This, overtime, has built respect and transparency with my clients. My current clients feel important and heard, they know they have not only control of their investment but they also benefit from the experience of all the members in the group. And my new clients coming in don’t have to read testimonials they can see the faces and hear the voices of my clients right on a call. It is the best testimate in the whole world that we are doing great things to serve our clients in a big way.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I like to think of myself as the “under dog”, but I guess we all have a moment in our lives that make us feel this way. My journey has had it’s ups and downs along the way just like anyone else story I am sure. I stumbled across real estate by accident really. I was a teenage mom with a young son who was floundering through life with no real purpose or strength to speak of. My mother was too busy drinking away the sorrows of her own lives failures to really offer any type of direction or support. I now realize how co-dependent I became on her addition and how it effected my own journey in life. I married a man who also struggled with addition and felt solace in some weird way by tending to him the same way I tended to my mother. I think he was familiar or maybe I just didn’t know any other way of living. I got into real estate as a necessity when my husbands addition made it impossible for him to hold a job. Things started out slowly through the years but the job kept us afloat at least and left us with enough money to keep a roof over our families head. The real turning point was when my mother lost her life to her addition. At that moment my whole world crashed down around me. I retreated inward and became numb. I no longer cared about my family, my friends, my marriage or my job. I was broken and defeated. After many months of living in my own misery I knew I had to make a change. It’s funny how life becomes so clear when you no longer care whether you wake up in the morning or not. The moment I stopped caring was the moment I started to care more than ever before.

I made the decision to leave my alcoholic husband who refused treatment to eventually better the lives of my children. The road was not an easy one but it was worth it. There were moment along my emotional journey that I thought I was not strong enough to go on. There were moments when I lost my cable, got my water shut off and almost lost my house but we made it through, how I don’t know but we did. I wanted my life back and I was determined to do it. I wanted to live again.

Fast forward a few years, and I met the most amazing partner, my now husband, who lifted me up, supported me and showed me that I was worth more than always caring for those around me. He has taught me that the best way to love others is to love yourself. He has taught me to admire who I see in the mirror and be proud of my emotional scars because they made me who I am today. He loved me through the pain I felt when my childhood best friend succumbed to her addition and lost her life. He even held me and my sons as we laid to rest my ex-husband and the man they knew as their father when he too was overcome by his addition. Within the span of 3 short years I had lost most of my family and my support system yet got the opportunity to create a whole new family of our own.

Since then we have built our renovation team on second chances. I have used this journey and pain with addition to reward and support those looking for help and a community. We welcome recovering addicts and their families into our company and assist them by building a trade they can be proud of. We give them the purpose that need to continue to recover and heal not just for them, but also for those who love them. We introduce them to their co-workers and peers who are walking similar lines that they are walking and offer treatment and therapy to them at no cost when they need it and want it.

I will never get rid of my scars but I can wear them proudly for the world to see and allow others to know you can never escape your past or the marks it has left on you. You can be co-dependent or you can be co-recovery. I will not allow my history to define me, instead I will build an empire of people who are walking the steps I have walked and we will all support each other on the travel.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.chrissysoldmine.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christinahoffmeier/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/christinahoffmeierrealtor/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christina-hoffmeier-85036023/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChrisHoffmeier?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdbwwked3DuP_hN7bcvOSRQ

Image Credits
Nicole Rae Photography